Legacy of Pain
by Star Sage
Summary: Can heroes really save everyone? Can the universe work like that? Or is there always going to be someone lost in the myriad byways of this thing called life? Does one life ever even matter? This is the story of one life, a story of one burning need for Revenge, and what lies at the heart of such desires. Power is fleeting, but the Pain of being forgotten never fades.
1. A Battle, Future to the Past

Jen Scotts' dreams are interrupted by blaring sirens and the noise of heavy footsteps outside her door. Instantly awake thanks to her training, the veteran Time Force Pink Ranger leapt from her bed, quickly drawing a pistol from a holster on the wall, doing a quick visual check of the firearm, before slamming I home and placing the holster and belt on her, glad once again that her Time Force uniform was selfcleaning, allowing her to sleep in it, a habit she'd grown into on any number of missions.

Less than a minute after waking, she was out in the hall, watching as the cadets and various civilian staff at the base were milling around, some going to stations, others seemingly just walking about in circles, causing her to scoff at the latest batch of recruits. Still, she didn't know the situation either, and slammed her palm against one wall, allowing the bio sensors in the hall to read her signature, and then read who she wanted to talk to, much like the Zord's took commands through her sword hilt.

"Report," was all she said as a screen flared to life against the wall, seeming to just appear out of nothing. The image on it was of the command center for the Time Force base, and in that image was a female Xybrian, Trip's people, with that trademark jewel of theirs glowing in his forehead, showing anyone who knew to look, just how worried this girl was.

"I don't know, Commander. One minute we were getting all clear reports from every section, and then something hit the Time Shadow, hard. We've got crews where it crashed, but we've still got no idea what hit it. Here's the image," said the girl, panicked, since this was the first crisis that Time Force had faced since that whole Ransik debacle, but still, she was well trained.

The screen switched over to a view outside the base, showing the city at night. Everything looked beautiful, as always, with a few buildings taking advantage of the clear night air to float freely over the city, rotating slowly. Looking closer, she spotted the Time Shadow's black silhouette against the stars, doing a lazy auto patrol loop around the city.

Suddenly a shot came. It was a lightning bolt, obviously some form of energy attack from some weapon. However, there was no obvious source for it, at least, none capable of producing one of the magnitude the displays were registering it as. No mutant could produce that much energy without using growth power, and it just seemed to come from inside the city, exploding against the Time Shadow's left side, and causing it to crash in the city below.

"Alright, I want every patrolling Zord back at headquarters five minutes ago, we can't give whatever did that anymore airborne targets. And get all the Time Force agents not dealing with the crash in the city back here," she said, as the image faded back to the girl, who nodded and quickly began to push buttons off screen. Jen, seeing no reason to continue the channel, removed her hand from the wall and turned to find she had an audience waiting.

"Okay grunts, everyone get a weapon and get to the Time Door. I want that thing locked down tight. Everyone not in Time Force itself, remain in your quarters until we know what happened," she ordered, and the assemblage of various people began to disperse to the tasks she assigned them, while Jen herself started towards the Vault, to get her Morpher. She didn't think she'd need it, but if that blast was some new mutant, then this was going to be a long night.

((((()))))

"Come on! FASTER!" shouted Lucas to his vehicle, a flycar he'd been modding with some advice he'd gotten from Wes back in the 21st. It was about 20% faster than anything else in the air that was available to the civies, none of whom were flying tonight, what with the crash, and Time Force's no fly order. Lucas though, he was with Nadira when whatever had happened, happened, and so when the call went out, he raced to his car, telling Nadira to got to her dad, while Lucas flew out to where he'd seen that lightning strike come from.

That was ten minutes ago, and now he was desperately running, looking back through his mirror to see that…whatever it was chasing him, the brown cloak it wore billowing in the wind behind it as it leapt from building to building, somehow keeping up with his ride. Even that speed demon mutant hadn't managed that, but then, this thing, whatever it was, it wasn't a mutant.

"I know you've got more juice than this, just give daddy a little bit more," he coerced , pushing a big red button he'd told his wife never to push under any circumstances. That was because it basically dumped all the fuel at once into the engine, and had it blow out in one burst. It was something he knew was stupid, but still, the result was he suddenly shot away from the thing, towards the command center, with a few vids of this thing. Maybe Jen or Alex could ID it, and then figure out what to do.

"Time for Time Force!" he shouted, rubbing his fingers against the morpher on his wrist, causing his suit to appear around him. It felt good to be back in the thing, the protective field it generated making his skin itch. That good feeling left him as he also felt the car, now bereft of lift, start a slow arcing fall towards the ground below. Shutting down the crash field that kept him against the seat, the Blue Time Ranger leapt from his vehicle, landing on the ground, before taking off at a run.

Lucas, the king of speed, got fifteen steps from where he'd landed before he stopped, staring at the thing he'd been running from. It was impossible, but this thing had not only kept up with his car, which landed just behind the pair, creating a spectacular shower of sparks as it slammed into the permacrete, sending parts flying. The thing had also passed them, and was now just standing there, as if mocking him.

"Kyah!" yelled the Blue Ranger, going for the first attack with a flying kick, hoping this thing would dodge and let him bolt past it while it tried to counterattack. Instead the thing reached up one large, rocky gray hand, and did something that just..it defied physics. Somehow it grabbed Lucas' foot, and held him there, just holding him by his ankle in the air, before dropping the stunned ranger at its feet.

"Heh, the old ones would have just teleported to their command center. You new ones are pathetic in that regard," said a voice like gravel mixing in a tumbler, while the thing reached up and pulled its hood back a bit. Beneath the lip of that coarse brown fabric Lucas caught a glimpse of something like that hand, gray and rocky, however, it was the eye that drew his attention, shining like a ruby in the night air, before a bolt shot out of it, and Lucas' world exploded into red, hot pain.

((((()))))

"Time Force Megazord and the Transwarp Megazord at the ready to defend against any aggressors, ma'm!" said the recruit, saluting. Behind him, Jen could see the Zords he spoke of, the vehicles she'd driven for so long, as well as the thing that sent them to the past. In front of the Zords were the assembled Time Force squads, all with Chrono Blasters drawn, ready for whatever might come their way, should the Zords fail to meet the foe.

"Good work, join the squads at the ready," said Jen, her voice a bit muffled by the Pink Time Force helmet she now wore, having morphed once she was sure the others were coming. Alex was at some stupid off world conference, but Katie and Trip were rarin to go, both of them, as well as she and Lucas, having been allowed to keep the morphers they'd 'borrowed' during their little adventure. Lucas, according to Nadira, was already on his way, and Ransik had offered to assist if she needed.

She'd nearly told Ransik to stick his offer up his….but she had instead told him to stand ready. Whatever had hit the Time Shadow was powerful, and so she'd ordered Blue Mode for the Time Force Megazord, figuring speed would allow it to at least somewhat counter that power. Staring at the titanic machine, being piloted by cadets, she actually thought they might enough to stop whatever had attacked them.

Then it happened in a flash. More lightning struck out from the city, closer to the base than before, probably just outside, but moving closer. It lanced towards the Transwarp Megazord, slamming into the monolithic machine several times in the blink of an eye, eliciting several showers of sparks from its defensive field.

To their credit, and her own as their trainer, the ranks of cadets stayed strong, not moving, even as the Transwarp was caught by the Time Force Megazord. Of course, as she watched, another attack, this one not lightning but some kind of blast, shot out from the end of the runway one which she stood, blasting the Megazord, and tossing it away, like it was nothing but some kind of child's plaything.

Staring towards the point the beam had come from, she silently ordered her helmet to zoom in, and again, to finally see a figure approaching the place where she and the cadets stood. It was human sized, rather than Zord, but the readings on her suit said that this figure in a coarse, brown fiber cloak was indeed the source of those powerful blasts. Worse than that though, was he was dragging a shape by its neck in his left hand. That shape was Lucas.

Without thinking, she brought up Lucas' biomonitor on her screen, his suit's internal systems telling her suit's that he was still alive. In pain probably, but alive, as the figure dropped him roughly on the ground at his feet.

"You see how well your weapons work against me, so I will be merciful and offer you this one chance. My vendetta is not with you, but with the past. Stand aside," rang a harsh voice, seeming to come from all around Jen. It was probably worse for the recruits, who weren't wearing the ranger suit. However, she was gratified to see that not one of them budged an inch.

"We won't be intimidated!" shouted that Xybrian girl from the control room earlier, and with a cry she fired her blaster at the figure, the beam blasting against his skin, and burning the cloak he wore. Instantly everyone joined the attack, most figuring that this guy had wasted all his energy on taking out the zords, and the tactic had been a bluff.

Shot after shot poured over the figure, and when at last the cadets, and Jen who'd joined in a moment later, stopped firing to replace their power packs, they looked towards where he stood, and let the rubble filled cloud clear, only to reveal the figure, in all his gruesome glory just standing there, not even a scratch showing on him.

It was a him too; Jen could see that from his now revealed face. It was a hideous face to be sure, half human, and half…something else. Not any mutant she knew, but still, it had to be some kind of, the rocky gray skin with one shining eye. Below the neck, he was still somewhat human on one side of his body, even having a human right hand, however, the left side, and his legs, were smooth and gray, with hands and feet being as rocky as his face, and looking deformed, like they'd been molded from some kind of clay.

As soon as he took a step forward, more shots stuck him, but none of them did a thing to him, not even pushing him back. Instead the beams just kind of got absorbed by him, even where they struck his human looking skin, as he kept advancing. When he got about halfway down the runway, he stopped, and then a beam, like what had struck the Time Force Megazord, shot out of his eye, slicing into the ground before the cadets, and causing a massive explosion that sent them all flying.

Jen, feeling the pressure of the blast, still charged forward, her suit allowing her to leap into the air, and come down with a cry at the strange man, only for him to just grab her, and then slam her into the ground hard enough to cause an overload in her suit's protective field, generating a spray of sparks. Still recovering, Jen then found a hard foot stomp onto her chest, pinning her against the hard permacrete ground.

"Heh, so much for the Power part of your name," said that voice again, mocking contempt in it, as the form of the mutant leaned down, and then grabbed her head. It felt like her soul was draining out of her as that hand, the human one, seemed to pass into her helmet, and then touched the side of her face. When it was removed, Jen just slumped down, too weak to move.

"Still, that was quite helpful of you to be here for me," he said, and Jen's eyes bulged a bit at her voice now coming from his lopsided mouth, before he just stepped over her, and walked towards the Chrono Arch.

"Voice and biometric override, Command Code, Twilight of Time," came her voice, and the arch's power cells spun to life, spurring Jen to rise, forcing her mind away from the pain that nearly swooned her as she carefully got to her feet, and saw the figuring walking towards the now glowing archway.

"Recalibrate mass index, set for my current mass reading from this spot, and send it to Angel Grove, 1995, August 29th," commanded her voice, and Jen watched as the arch slowly spun all its motors to life, and then with a flash, the time vortex opened up. The figure, not stopping, kept moving towards it, and Jen, knowing she couldn't let this thing, this man, mutant, or whatever back to where it wanted to go, charged, trying to go silently.

Either the thing was too distracted to hear her, or Jen was quieter than she thought, because the Pink Time Force Ranger was able to do a flying leap at it, causing them both to go into the time vortex together, the energies of the travel tearing at her being, even as she heard the thing curse her interference.

((((()))))

"Deca! What's with that alarm?" demanded the Silver Ranger as he roused from what had been a peaceful slumber aboard the Astro Megaship II. Going to the bridge, he found various screens lighting up, and everything was telling him this was going to be a very long day, as he detected something with a massive amount of energy enter Earth's time space from the future. Whatever it was, Deca was picking it up from KO-35's orbit, and that meant it was real trouble.


	2. The Ripples Spread

Groaning sounds came from a mouth that was twisted, causing the noise itself to seem almost demonic. The face to which that mouth belonged too did little to deter that assessment either, as the gray, rocky face stood side by side with a scarred human one, its red eye gleaming as it looked about itself, trying to remember what had happened.

A flash of recognition passed over its expression as the pain of time travel without a vehicle faded, and he remembered that someone had interfered with his goal. Spinning around, he saw her, the Pink Time Force Ranger, splayed out on the ground, breathing in ragged breaths, but not stirring beyond that, obviously completely unconscious, and out of her ranger form.

"GRAH! Do you know what you've done!" demanded the creature, looking down at her, somewhat surprised to see her in one piece. Her body was banged up to be sure, but nowhere near as bad as his own. Probably because he had been in front of her he'd left some kind of wake that she'd followed it, escaping the worst of the damage.

"You've ruined it! You've…no, I must remain calm," said the voice, his gray hand reaching forward to grab the ranger by her neck, and strangle the life out of her. The face softened a bit, looking around, inquisitively. They were an in alleyway, that much was certain by the dumpster and the buildings that surrounded them, and by the looks of the architecture, if this wasn't his original destination in time, it was close.

"Think, use the resources, do what Father taught you," he said to himself, holding his human hand to his chin. The first resource he had was the ranger. She was vulnerable, and his prisoner for as long as he needed her. She would make excellent bait once she woke up and he forced her to morph.

"But what year is it?!" he shouted, demanding the heavens to tell him. The noise apparently carried, as several shapes appeared at the mouth of the alley, moving closer to him.

"Hey, you okay there?" said a voice he didn't recognize, but one that sounded completely human. That meant this might be before first contact. Smiling, he dipped into his power a bit, and flashed, using his human side to cover it up as his form shifted and moved, smoothing the gray skin into a more pale tone, giving him the impression of someone who had been burned.

"Yes, I'm fine, I just…I'm confused. I don't know where I am. What is this place? What year is it?" he asked, trying to sound pathetic and weak. It was a failed attempt, considering his straight posture, and the obvious mass he possessed, but the voice he used demanded an answer, and the pedestrian felt the need to respond.

"Um…it's Angel Grove….and it's….2014," said the man, and then before he could breath, he was shot with lightning, the creature turning back into that half form, unable to hold its shape for even the few seconds it would have taken to beg off the man.

The man himself went flying, the lightning shocking his body and causing him to pass out in midflight, so that his body landed with a dull thud on the ground outside, while the creature began to roar, emerging from the alley and sending out another lightning blast, causing the people to scatter before him, his rage blowing up cars every few feet as he dragged the seeming corpse of the time force ranger with one hand.

((((()))))

"Hmm, so, how do you think the new recruits are doing?" asked Ryan to his aide, someone assigned to him by General McKnight only a few weeks ago. The one to whom he addressed the question merely looked down at the pad in her hands, and began to rattle of statistics and facts about the crew, causing Ryan to sigh.

"I know all that, I meant, what are your opinions on them?" he said, rephrasing his question.

"Well, we have a few hooligans in this batch, though with the Dr. Rawlings on leave with her husband, they seem to be taking it easy. I believe Mr. Rawlings' presence encourages them," she said matter-of-factly, and Ryan smiled a bit, remembering that one of those hooligans(Likely on a dare from Joel himself) had replaced his aide's gear upon arrival with a skimpy tight leather outfit, forcing her to wear it her first day since the rest of her clothes hadn't been transferred to the Agua Base yet.

"Heh, well then, I suppose we should start with some more training then, to give them an outlet for those tendencies. What do you think about running them through Rescue Scenario 14?" he asked, looking at her, trying to gauge her reaction. 14 was probably the most grueling RS that Ryan knew about, and would be great payback for her.

"I wouldn't recommend it. Give them a series of 5, 6, and 12, all in a row, it would test their endurance more, and give them more practical experience," she responded in an almost bored sounding voice, making Ryan sigh and hold his hands up to his face, vaguely wondering if McKnight had dusted off the old Cyborg initiative and this aide was a test model.

"I suppose that's true. Make it happen, and send me the reports on how they do," he ordered, turning back to his desk, which was covered with other such reports. The aide, hmming a bit, looked at him, before pressing a few buttons on her console which sent the orders out. Just as she did so though, her monitor turned red, and a beeping sound issued from it.

"What have we got?" he asked, instantly on task as he pressed a button to bring his own monitor up out of the desk. Like the aide's it was flashing red, displaying warnings signs and various channels.

"Looks like a 14, a live one," she said, furiously typing, and bringing up a news report for him on his monitor. The image was fuzzy at first, as the camera man tried to get a better view of what he was filming, and then had to dodge a flying bit of rubble. Still, it was unmistakable what was happening, a monster attack.

"Location, Angel Grove, affiliation of monster, unknown. He appears to have one hostage, but is otherwise simply doing damage," she said, her fingers blurring as she got data feeds from everywhere she could, finally finding a good image of the creature attacking the city, in this case, something that looked vaguely human, but with gray skin and rock hard bits covering half its body.

"Alert active trainees to get ready to deploy, and when you've got a force together, send them out," ordered Ryan as he rose, and rushed for the door, his aide already working on his instructions. Out in the hall, Ryan felt a familiar thrill shoot through his body. It was going to be a long day, but still, it might be more exciting than paper pushing.

((((()))))

"We are live on the scene of Angel Grove's first monster attack in over a decade, brining you the closest view you can get," said the female reporter to her camera man, holding the mic close to her mouth, and trying to talk into it over the sounds of explosions.

Taking the cue, the camera man rose up again, and tried to get a good shot of the thing, which blasted out at another car, causing it to violently explode when the red eye beam thing struck it, slamming the vehicle into a nearby building. The thing then opened its mouth and roared in rage again, seemingly just smashing things to do some damage.

"This is so gonna make our careers, an exclusive like this," said the reporter, covering her mic so her voice couldn't be heard.

"I don't know about this, shouldn't we, you know, be running?" asked the camera man, having to duck down as another blast of lightning shot from the creature's gray hand, blasting out the front of a nearby shopping mall, and causing the streaming mass of people to part as it continued onward.

"Oh, running is for normal people. We're reporters now, and we've got to get the best information we can to help them stay safe, right?" she told him, and the camera man seemed to consider this for a moment, before nodding, and trying to zoom in on the monster.

"As you can see, this thing seems to have taken a hostage, or at least grabbed some poor woman off the street. Her clothing, a white jump suit, appears to be burned at the edges, but otherwise she looks to be fine, if passed out, likely from the horror of the creature that has her," said the reporter, and the instant she finished, the thing turned towards her, the red eye glowing, like he'd heard the insult.

"Um…I think we should run now," said the camera man, turning, only to get staggered as her ran into a solid wall where none should be. Trying to focus the camera, the view soon became one looking straight into the chest of the thing that had been tearing apart downtown Angel Grove for the last half hour.

"Hmm, a news crew. Useful," said a voice like gravel, and then suddenly the cameraman's choking could be heard, as the free arm of the creature grabbed him by the throat.

"DEVIN!" cried the reporter woman, running up towards the view and grabbing onto the arm, trying to tug it away. Her efforts were seemingly wasted, as the creature's grip didn't even falter, however, the sound of something thudding into the concrete could be heard, and then other hand whipped out, smacking the reporter woman on the side of her face, and sending her sprawling.

"Ca-acksss," wheezed the cameraman, who couldn't drop the camera due to the way he was being held, but one could hear him grunt and the impact of his foot on the creature's chest, which only made him turn to the cameraman again, a glint in his red eye.

"You care for her, yes?" asked the thing, and Devin nodded as well as he could, the camera bobbing a bit.

"Then tell me, is this live?" demanded the thing, tapping the camera with its free hand. Devin, much more slowly than before, nodded.

"Excellent," he said, dropping the cameraman back onto the ground, lowering him so he didn't fall, and thus, ruin the transmission. Devin still went to his knees, wheezing a bit as air finally found his lungs again, and the camera, still held in its harness, pointed downward at the form of the hostage girl, who was still passed out.

"To your feet woman!" it told Cassidy, and the camera looked over just in time to see the monster roughly drag the reporter to her feet again, holding her up as she gripped her head.

"Wha-what do you want?" she asked, her voice a bit woozy.

"To be famous," said the thing with a smirk, as he motioned for the cameraman to stand up, while continuing to hold the reporter, obviously able to break her if either made a false move.

((((()))))

"Hayley, what's going on? I keep-" began Tommy as he entered the underground hideaway he shared with his 'assistant'. He'd been coming here today to do a few more tests on the recovered meteorites again, trying to get them back to full strength, when the news on the radio in his car had cut to some strange report, which sounded like there was a monster attack in Angel Grove.

Hayley didn't say anything as he entered, her face transfixed on the monitor before her, showing the pair an old acquaintance who'd apparently gotten in over her head, as some monster that looked at least somewhat human, somewhat not, held Cassidy by her arm, obviously having struck her, considering the large bruise on the side of her face.

"This is…this is Cassidy Cornell of the World News Network, and my cam-cameraman and I are here in Angel Grove with a…a…a," she stumbled over her words, still swooned a bit from the attack. The monster, losing patience, its red eye flaring, grabbed the microphone.

"I want them, I want them to hurt, to remember, now tell them!" it demanded in an almost demonic voice, its gray skin turning into pure ebony black as its power flared.

"This is Cassidy, and I have a message for the Power Rangers, wherever you are. This…man, wants to see you. Please….help," she said, a bit of a tear in her eye, and then the camera flashed red, as something shot out of the thing's red eye, and smashed into it, before the image went static.

The two old hands at this just stared. The monsters, even the worst, usually had some reason for what they did, some purpose beyond destruction or vengeance. Most wanted conquest, or at least their masters did. This thing, the way it had looked, couldn't care less, considering the destroyed nature of the street. And that meant it probably didn't care about the lives in its hands.

"Call the others, get them here as soon as you can," was all Tommy said to Hayley as he rushed towards a vault in the wall, pushing some buttons that beeped at him, before a pneumatic hiss of air told him it was open. Pulling at the handle revealed something Tommy thought he'd never need to use again. Inside the vault sat a single pair of items that glowed red in the light as he reached in and pulled them out, putting one on each wrist.

"Zeo Ranger 5, RED!" he shouted, as he brought the things together in front of him, interlocking the parts, and feeling that surge of energy that came from their make-up as it charged through his body. Instantly there was a flash of light, and Tommy stood in the red suit of the leader of the Zeo Rangers, a suit he hadn't worn in over a decade.

"Tommy! Be careful!" shouted Hayley after him, as Tommy rushed to another room, pressing buttons on a panel to summon one of the many time space doors called an Invisi-Portal. When it opened he jumped through, ready to fight this thing.

((((()))))

"Devin…" Cassidy said weakly, looking at the cameraman, who slumped back to the ground after the explosion of what had been his camera. Luckily, he seemed almost unharmed, just a bit beat up, but still, with him passed out, that left her alone with the creature.

"Go," it said after releasing her suddenly, and Cassidy just stared at her arm where it had been touching her. It felt cold to the touch now, but she was a survivor, and recovering quickly, she rushed to Devin's side, getting his arm over her shoulder, and then trying to run away, only to stop when she spotted the woman on the ground.

"I think you should leave her be. She'd been on a long trip, and needs her rest," said the thing again, and after a moment's hesitation, Cassidy began to hobble away, dragging Devin with her. She was no match for this thing, and that meant running was the best option. Hopefully the Power Rangers would put this creep down and rescue the woman, but for now, she had a responsibility to Devin.

Looking at her go, the creature turned itself towards the city, surveying the wreckage. The devastation on the street behind it was a testament to its power. Almost no cars remained whole, several having been shot into nearby buildings at odd angles, including one that had somehow slammed into the upper stories of a skyrise, and every front of every building appeared to have been blown off, the area looking like a warzone.

"Heh," the thing scoffed with a smirk. The war. It always came down to it, didn't it? The Rangers fought so hard to defeat evil, to purge the world of darkness, never knowing, never comprehending that Darkness had won so long ago. It merely waited now, for the power of the light to fade. Those thoughts warmed the creature as it stood amid the ruins, smelling the smoke, and enjoying the view.


End file.
